Post navigation

Cost of Living In Malaysia ….. RM3k income a month.. Is it enough ?

I’ll try to do some calculations here. In Malaysia the average family income is RM3000 (Father works, mother doesn’t). I understand there are a lot of families whose incomes don’t reach RM3000, but to make things simple, let’s take RM3000 as the figure. Okay, let’s start rolling with a family which has a father, a mother, a daughter, and a son. Ngam-ngam, calculation starts…

Electricity and water bill RM100 (no air-cond, no home theatre, no water-heater)

Telekom and Handphone bill RM100 (cannot make a lot of calls one you know? NO Streamyx also)

(Streamyx is probably this country’s only broadband provider, it monopolizes the entire market and rules with an iron fist, however its services are crappy and it is also known as Slowmyx and Screamyx by Malaysians)

Meal for the whole happy family RM775 (3 meals on RM25/day, RM25 for 4 persons???)

Papa makan during working hours RM155 (RM5/day, RM5 can eat what?)

Car repayment RM400 (a Proton Saga Aeroback, 7 years repayment)

Petrol RM300 Bring son to school, only can afford one car running, no school bus. The public buses are unreliable.

Insurance for the whole family RM650.

House repayment RM750 (Low cost housing repayment for 30 years, retired still have to work to pay for house! all developers should just give me one for free !)

Tuition RM80 (got that cheap meh?? No, I don’t think so)

Children’s pocket money @ school RM20 (RM1/day, my children are too good to eat bread !!)

School books and etc etc. RM100 (there’ll always be extra to pay for in school)

Younger children milk powder RM50 (cannot have the DHA, BHA, PHA or any of the high-formulated milk powders because it’s just too expensive!)

Miscellaneous RM100 (shampoo, rice, sauce, toilet paper)

Oh wait!!! I have to stop here, so… No Astro (another of Malaysia’s only satelite cable TV provider that rules the country with an iron fist, with equally crappy services and lousy shows), no movie at the cinema, no DVD, no CD, no online, cannot eat KFC, cannot eat McDonald, cannot go to the park for walks during weekend (petrol expensive), no chit-chat on phone with parents/grandparents, etc…

Let’s use a calculator to total it up… CRAP! RM3610 already! And the sum hasn’t even been deducted by the EPF* and government tax yet!

The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) is a savings scheme for your retirement. As a member of the Fund, you have the right to ensure that your savings is managed properly and is always safe. For the uninitiated, EPF is also a kitty litter used by the government whenever they see a need to assist the unfortunate very fortunate ones (those worth a big fortune, like billionaires) who have fallen on hard times so that they can continue leading a lifestyle of glamour and luxury (how can you expect them to give up their Bentley for a Proton?!?)

How to survive lar? Our Deputy Prime Minister ask us to change lifestyle? How to change? Don’t eat? Don’t work? Don’t send children to school and study? Besides that, I believe that there are millions of Malaysians which still don’t earn RM3000 month!

What is this? Malaysia Boleh? Despite the slogan (a rather lame one) being meant to drive Malaysians to achieve greater heights, we have most often than not turn the meaning the other way around to mean that ‘anything can happen in Malaysia, because despite all that we’re somehow still alive and kicking!

haha.. See how things goes first. I still haven’t finish studying yet. But then even if I go over to singapore, i don’t know what i wanna work as. I want to be a technician but i don’t have a IT cert. how leh? =.=”

well, that depends which country you’re in… in Malaysia, there’s even people who are making less than 1k a month. Price of commodities and daily necessities are rising but I don’t see any raise in salaries… That’s malaysia….

what is written is so true,,, it is best to leave the country… msia is going down… worse than indon in the near future… although what is written is wrong (astro is satelite not cable).. but what is written makes sense… and it is something worth pondering about… i am leaving… most people are leaving..

I actually came here after my dad forwarded me this URL, strangely enough! Great to see Advertlets on your blog 🙂 Quite true what you said in this post…but btw, notice this was written in 2006…the same petrol should cost you around RM506.25 now!!

Thanks for dropping, Josh..
Cost of living is getting higher day by day. The only thing that doesn’t go up is our salary. I’m lucky that I don’t own a car but with the price hike of daily necessities, I don’t even have extra to save by the end of the month. =(

Actually, with that amount of salary, it is more than enough to raise a family. Provided that you live a simple life with no fancy fancy stuffs everyday. If you enjoy a luxury life, I’m afraid you’ll have to work more =)

To live near the University Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Johor what might be my (Single person) monthly living cost:
1. Rent a 2/3 Rooms (including dinning) Aparment
2. Food (2 Times Out and One time make at home)
3. Utility Bills including Internet Connection and Cell Phone
4. Commuting cost between UTM and my home (Public Transport)

I would also like to know the average cost of leaving in Kulalumpur for a small family. Husband-wife and 2 kids. Kids need average international school May be around 2500 per month school fee..
please add a decent 2 BR flat rent and basic Amenties